


Dusty Rooms and Forgotten Memories

by Geekhyena



Category: Girl Genius
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Memories, Nostalgia, Platonic Male/Male Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-30
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-12-16 17:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/864553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geekhyena/pseuds/Geekhyena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While cleaning Castle Heterodyne, Agatha finds out more about the father she never knew, and discovers something Klaus had thought lost forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dusty Rooms and Forgotten Memories

WARNING: Nostalgia, memories, and massive amounts of Klaus/Bill feels. Rated G.

(some parts may or may not have been influenced by RL)

This is set after things have seriously calmed down, and Agatha is in the process of actually moving into the Castle – which necessitates a lot of cleaning/organizing, as it hasn't really been lived in for two decades. Especially the master suite, where she is expected to live.   
—————-

Carson opened the door – now deactivated of all the security systems the Castle had activated during the attack two decades ago – and showed Agatha the dusty yet opulent room that was the master suite. The room was dominated by a large, elaborately carved four poster bed, and Agatha could see that it lived up to the Castle's comment that six people could sleep in it. 

"As I mentioned, Lady, the master bed is over five hundred years old – your ancestor, Redenius Heterodyne, brought it back from Ceylon – along with his second wife. It has been the bed of the Heterodyne ever since. Of course, it is in need of a new mattress and linens – those can be arranged easily now, but it is tradition to keep the bed."

"It certainly looks sturdy," she agreed, peering closer at the carved ebony. Surprisingly, it wasn't carved with monsters or demons – just a simple, almost abstract pattern that seemed to suggest a primeval forest, full of power and potential. 

"The closet is over there, and the washroom through those doors. If you need anything…"

"I'll send for it. Don't worry. I just need some time alone to sort through everything." 

He bowed and left, leaving her alone in the room, which suddenly felt emptier and almost lonely, light filtering through the dusty windows. She pulled a dust rag out of a pocket on her work apron and began to wipe the worst of the dust off of the inside of the windows, letting in more light. That done, she cleaned off a spot on the bed and flumped down on it, accidentally dislodging a small herd of mimmoths that had taken up residence in the mattress. The bed, she was keeping. But everything else would have to be sorted. Some stuff would go to the museum – they had politely requested any artifacts she would care to part with, as it would really bring in the tourists, and she had promised them that anything she didn't have a use for, they could have.

She sat on the bed, seeing the evidence of where two people used to sleep – the two pillows side by side, the rumpled sheets, a lacy dressing gown hastily discarded at the foot of the bed. The scene was intimate in a slightly disturbing way – even after all this time, after all she knew, there was the temptation to write Lucrezia off as a villain, with few, if any redeeming qualities, but at the same time she was well aware of the fact that Lucrezia had loved Bill, in her own way, and that he had loved her. Thinking about it, about them happy before….it still made her uncomfortable.

Casting her gaze around the room, she looked at the nightstand closest to her. It was obviously Bill's – a watch stand, a book of maps, still open to a faded, dust-covered page. There was a lamp in the shape of a volcano with a jet of fire coming out from the top, and a sleeping dragon coiled about its base. Running her fingers over it, marveling at the intricate enamelwork that colored the dragon in all the shades of flame, she found a button and when she pressed it, the dragon opened its eyes and uncoiled, sliding up the volcano so that it now looked like the jet of fire was coming out of the mouth of the dragon. A small spark flared inside the lamp, but the oil fueling it had long since evaporated away. She would keep this, too. 

Next to the lamp was an ornate photo frame, and the picture inside it made her stop. It was a photograph of Bill and Klaus, taken when they were younger, the two men standing atop what appeared to be a giant, six-legged wooly rhinocerous, arms around each others' shoulders, grinning madly, two best friends rejoicing in the adventures they were having together and just plain enjoying life. It was placed, she realized, so that it would be the last thing Bill saw before he went to bed at night. Looking at it, she got an idea. She knew exactly what to do with this. 

Setting it aside, she began to clean and sort. Old clothes would go to the museum, Sparky devices to be analyzed and then either kept or donated. Most of the stuff still in the room, she realized, was Bill's. She explored as she sorted, trying to learn about him from the things he left behind. There's still so much she doesn't know about him, and the room was like an intimate glimpse into who he was – who he really was. Not Bill Heterodyne, adventurer/hero, but Bill Heterodyne, the person.

It took hours, but by the time she was done, things cleared away and sorted, she felt like she knew him more. There was a sense of connection she hadn't felt before, filling a hole she hadn't even realized was there.

—————-a few days later——————

The meeting was winding down – both the Baron, the Jagergenerals, and Agatha were in agreement. The Jagers would remain with the Empire – they were too valuable a force not to – but the Jagergenerals and Agatha would keep control of the overall forces. It would be spun as a sign of House Heterodyne's continued interest in the peace of the Empire, with some trade concessions in return that would be very beneficial to Mechanicsburg, but privately, Agatha was relieved. She wouldn't know what to do with thousands of Jagers – the generals were already a bit disappointed that she wasn't the type to go out and sack Budapest on a whim, and she knew that Jagers without something to do caused trouble. Hopefully by keeping them occupied with Empire business, and with rotating furloughs home, she could keep them and her happy. 

As Klaus turned to leave, Agatha coughed politely. "Herr Baron?" she asked, stopping him. "May I have a word with you in private? Just a small matter." Klaus raised an eyebrow, and Boris made as if to stay, but Klaus nodded, motioning for Boris to leave.

"Yes, Lady Heterodyne?" He asked when they were alone.

And now the public mask of confidence slipped a bit as she fumbled in her satchel a bit, drawing out a small, wrapped package and holding it out to Klaus. "I found this," she said by way of explanation as he examined it, taking it from her. "I….I think he would have wanted you to have it." 

He unwrapped the package, revealing the framed photograph, and his eyes went wide. A mist of nostalgia filled his vision. "I remember this…" he said softly. "Where did you find it?"  
"In the master bedroom, on his nightstand. Where it would be the last thing he saw before bed." She wasn't quite sure how to read his reactions….but he seemed happy, albeit the happiness was tinged with…regret, maybe?

He continued to look at the picture. "We were so young then…" he said, more to himself than to her. He shook his head, clearing his mind as he carefully tucked the picture into the inner pocket of his waistcoat. "Thank you, Lady Heterodyne."

Agatha nodded. Gil had mentioned to her once that due to the utter destruction of the first Castle Wulfenbach during the opening salvos of the Other War, Klaus had very few objects from the time before the war, and what little he had, he considered extremely precious. "You're welcome, Herr Baron," she said as they stepped out into the hallway.

———-a short time later ——————

Back in his private study, Klaus gently set the photograph on his desk, next to the one surviving photograph of his parents. He had thought most of his past lost, but here was a remnant of the time when things had been so much less complicated – just two best friends, adventuring, saving people, determined to save the world one small town at a time. It had been so simple then…..he sighed. It wasn't simple now. It hadn't been for a while. But at the same time, he looked at the picture, and couldn't help smiling.


End file.
